Bank-burglar protective device



c. A. GUHR. BANK BURGLAR PROTECTIVE DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED D E C. 19, I919.

Patented July 12, 1921.

2 SHEETSSHEET 1.

all I o 4 o l V o 4 0 0 0V 0 o 7 o o o b o o o O \I 0 0 2 o e o h 6 o M a o o M e o o o o o o INILWI o m: 2

WLs

INVENTOR m... 0.0. 3M

BY km ATTORNEYS Y C. A. GUHR.

BANK BURGLAR PROTECTIVE DEVICE. APPLICATION FILED DEC. 19. 1919.

2 SHEETS-7SHEET 2.

1,384,613, Patented July 12,1921.

ATTORNEYS ATENT QFFIQE- CHAR-LES A. GUHR, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

BAIQ'K-IBURGLAR IPROTECTIVE DEVICE.

Application filed December 19, 1919.

1 o (-1 20. 1077), it may concern:

it l-znmru that I, (lrmnnns A. GUI-1n, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of Chicago, in the county of Cook and Eat-ate of Tllinois, have invented a new and useful improvement in Bank-Burglar Protective Devices, of which the following full, ciear, and soot description.

My invention relto improvements in 'LCQS for protecting banks from burglars, 3 d consists in the combinations, constructions and arrangements herein described and claimed.

fin object of my invention is to provide a device by means of which a bank cashier may instantly protect himself from an armed robber or burglar, without danger to himself or his associates.

A further object of my invention is to provide a device which is operated by an electric circuit from different points in the bank so that others than the cashier who is being held up by the robber may actuate the mechanism.

The invention consists in general of a movable screen or curtain which is normally out of sight, but which may be instantly brought into position to screen the interior of the age from the robber.

@ther objects and advantages will appear in the following specification, and the novel features of the invention will be particularly pointed out in the appended claim.

My invention is illustrated. in the accompanying drawings, forming part of this application, in which Figure 1 is plan view of a bank cage provided with my improved protective device,

Fig. 2 is a section along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a front view of the cage, showing the screen as it is being moved from the norm'al to the clOSGCl position,

4: is an enlarged section along the line 4&4. of Fig. 3, and

Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic view of the electric circuit.

In carrying out my invention, I make use of any suitable form of cage, such as that shown in the drawings. This cage is provided with a front portion 1 and side portions 2, these front portions and side p0rtions being provided with the usual bars 3. The front has the usual cashiers window 4;

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 112, 1321.

Serial No. 345,114..

which is provided with a small ledge or counter 5. Theconstruction thus far described is ordinary and forms no part of my invention.

Disposed at the top of the cage and contiguous to the front is a supporting plate or beam 6, upon which are mounted sheaves or pulleys "f. Runways 8 which are U-shaped in cross section extend rearwardly and converge into a common runway 9, at the end of which is a pulley or sheave 10 carried by a cross beam or plate 11. The plates 6 and 11 have openings 12, as shown.

Disposed at the front of the cage is a curtain or s "reen 13 which is made of any suitable magneti'lsable material, such as sheet steel, or the like. The side edges of the screen are disposed in runways 14 (see Fig. 2), and are preferably provided with roller bearings 15 in order to enable the screen to be readily moved upwardly and downwa-rdly.

Disposed beneath the floor 16 is an electromagnet 17, whose core 18 has its upper end flush with the floor, as shown in Fig. 3. The upper edge of the screen is secured to the cables 19 which extend. rearwardly in the runways 8 (see Fig. 1), thence downwarmly through the openings 12, being connected to the screen as shown in Fig. 3. Bars or posts &O are provided for concealing the cables 19 from view. The cables 19 are both connected to a single cable 20 (see Fig. 1) which extends over the sheave 10, and thence downwardly through the opening 12 and through a pipe or tube 21, the lower end of the cable 20 being attached to a counterweight 22, disposed in a cylinder 23 underneath the floor 18.

In a bank cage of this type, there are generally front and side counters, such as those shown at 24c and 25 respectively. At any suitable points on these counters, I place push buttons 26, while a foot push 27 is provided on the floor close by the eashiers window.

From the foregoing description of the various parts of the device, the operation thereof may be readily understood. The apparatus is connected up electrically in the manner shown in Fig. 5. The battery B is connected in series with the push buttons 26 and 27 and the electromagnet 17. Normally, the screen 13 is in its lowest position and its bottom edge in contact with the core of the magnet 17, where it is held by the magnet as long as current is flowing from the battery B. The weight 22 is in the dotted line position shown in Fig. 2. It, now, a bank robber should suddenly threaten to shoot the cashier unless the latter should hand over certain bank .funds, or should order the cashier to hold up his hands, all he would need to do would be to press the foot push 27, thereby breaking the circuit and deenergizing the magnet, whereupon the weight 22 would operate to instantly cause the screen to rise to move upwardly into the position shown in Fi 2, thereby toiling the robber and also preventing injury to the cashier. The arrangement is such that any one who might be in the cage could operate the device by merely pushing upon the push buttons. It will be understood, of course, that these push buttons are of the type in which the circuit is normally closed through a button, and is opened when the button is pushed.

It is obvious that other forms of the dedownwardly or from the side, might be made, without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention.

It will be understood that when the screen is moved upwardly by the weight, it cannot again be pried downwardly, because of the fact that the spring look 50, shown in detail in Fig. 41:, operates automatically to lock it in its closed position.

I claim:

A bank cage protective device comprising a metal screen disposed at the front of the cage and arranged to slide vertically into position behind the bars of the cage front, an electromagnet disposed beneath the floor oi the cage for normally holding the screen in position, cables secured to the screen and arranged to extend upwardly, runways for said cables extending rearwardly and converging to form a stop member at their junction, a counterweight disposed beneath the floor of the cage, a cable connected at one end with the counterweight and at its other end with said last named cable, and a tube for concealing the cable connected'to the coun terweight.

CHARLES A. GUI-IR. 

